City Arts Funding in a Time of Crisis

I'm back after a spring break that included camping on the CA coast. I returned home for budget week in the City of San Diego. For months local supporters of arts funding have been wondering whether or not the mayor would recommend a cut in city support for arts and culture. All were ready to rally if we saw drastic cuts proposed as has happened in other cities.

On Monday, the mayor released his 09/10 budget proposal to the City Council and public. Late Tuesday night, the City Council voted unanimously to support the reduction in city employee wages and benefits he'd made the cornerstone of balancing the budget's $60 million gap. There are weeks of hearings and votes still to come but the first hurdle has been crossed with the arts being part of the mayor's effort to sustain all city services at their current levels.

City leaders view the funding program for arts and culture as an important city service because of years of concerted advocacy work. San Diego was in the national spotlight four years ago (under a different mayor) for financial mismanagement that resulted in a backlog of annual audits, a downgrading of its bonds to ratings so low the city couldn't borrow, and skyrocketing employee pension obligations. The arts and culture community knew that city funding was at risk of being diminished or eliminated in such a volatile environment so established relationships with the mayoral candidates early in the election. This included public engagement through candidate forums and questionnaires, private meetings to educate them on the impact of arts and culture to the city, and politically astute trustees of arts organizations making their support of the arts prominently know to the candidate they supported.

Once the new mayor was in office the relationship building and education continued with the mayor and full City Council. This work has been a partnership of the City's Arts and Culture Commission and all volunteer Regional Arts and Culture Coalition. We jointly publish an annual economic impact report, testify at City Council meetings, and attend mayoral and City Council community events. Arts and culture trustees continue to participate in meetings with the Mayor and Council members as well as engage them in less formal settings. Arts organizations acknowledge city funding by recognizing the mayor and council members in program books as well as at events. This weeks news is years in the making.

You can have this success too. We've done it the nation's eighth largest city without any paid Coalition staff or a dedicated Coalition website. The core ingredients has been cooperation, collaboration, and diligence. Arts and culture organizations, no matter their size, dedicate the time and effort they can afford. The organizations respect and value each others' work and recognize that as a collective we make a stronger case for stable funding than as individual institutions.

We are hearing plenty of bad news across the arts sector these days. Oddly, some of the simplest news, like our mayor proposing stable funding for arts and culture, comes about only because of tremendous work that goes unheralded. This work is undramatic, saves energy and avoids turmoil. Best of all, anyone can do it.

Of course, we're never done. Now, we have to be sure the City Council votes in support of the mayor's proposal.